When do scouts scout?

wspahn21 · 07-10-2008, 12:45 PM

I have scouting turned on. At the end of the season I lost my scout and it took me until January to hire a new scout. It is now Spring Training and my scout has still not scouted anyone to update the star ratings. All players are at 1 star.

I understand that the star rating is not the best to go on but OSA doesn't seem to be as good as the scouts you can hire.

Well when does scouting begin? It is making trading and promotions and so forth difficult since my scout won't scout.

1998 Yankees · 07-10-2008, 11:36 PM

Did you advance at least one day into Spring Training? Because, according to the manual, "typically players are scouted on the first day of Spring Training, on Opening Day, the first day of the Offseason, and every few months in between."

Besides that and two stupid suggestions (you did actually hire the guy, and you did allocate money to major and minor league scouting, right?) the only other thing I can think of is hiring your scout only recently is temporarily delaying his initial reporting. Recall that in last year's version, scouting an organization took some time, let alone a league. That may still be the case behind the scenes in this year's version.

kingpin1976 · 07-11-2008, 06:37 AM

One thing I've found and dont know if its a bug or what but different leagues have their new ratings scouted at different points of the season and I've had guys come up to the bigs from AA or AAA when that league is having it's scouting report published then that player gets sent back down and the player will not get an updated scouting report if he is not in the current league that's being published or in my example not updates at all when moved back and forth.

Pdubya64 · 07-19-2008, 04:07 PM

I am running into similar issues. I started a 08 Nationals GM game and the first move I make is deep-sixing the head scout for his poor performance.
I hired the best guy I could afford (97/101/100/101) and he accepts on March 24th. I also up his budget from $2M to $3M. Great! Now I can go to town rebuilding the Nats, right? Wrong.

It looks like (having trouble telling) the game waits until April 1st to do a scouting report from the new guy; in the meantime, even though the pulldown scout menu says that the new guy has done the individual player report (vs. the OSA) after a few days, old Jorge later gives me a fresh scouting report and BAM!- all the guys I thought I was getting with good star ratings plummet to league dregs. Doooh! Game over!

Is there a way to launch a new ML game with 08 rosters AND start before spring training? Right now I am so new as a GM I squeak every time I turn around, and I feel "rushed" with the game starting on March 23rd.

Help! Throw me a bone with any scouting tips on it... WOOF!

Pdubya64 · 07-19-2008, 05:41 PM

I did some more testing with the same team and settings. The bug is minor but can be confusing for new guys like me IMO.

My Nats game starts with Jose Lopez as Head Scout and it gives you a scouting report from him dated 3-24-08, along with the OSA report.
I fire poor Jose on 3-25-08 (opening day) and hire head scout Jorge Barrias with ratings of 97/101/101/101.

As of 3-26-08, the game is now displaying the new SD's name (Jorge Barrias) with the previous HS's 3-24-08 report- even though he wasn't hired yet. The report belongs to Jose Lopez, and due to his ineptitude, leaves much to be desired.

When 4-1-08 rolls around, Jorge Barrias issues his latest and greatest overall scouting report and of course there are numerous changes that occur in players ratings and potential.
Now granted, if you are paying close enough attention to the dates, it should occur to you that Jorge Barrias couldn't possibly have written the 3-24-08 report, but since there is so much going on with OOTP9, it makes it very easy to miss this fact.
What you end up with is what I described in my post above... you think your spiffy new scout is hard at work separating the wheat from the chaff, and you blindly start trading, hitting the waiver wire, etc. until 4-1-08 rolls around and you start crying because you have to start ALL over again.

07-10-2008, 12:45 PM	#1
wspahn21 Major Leagues Join Date: Mar 2002 Posts: 426	When do scouts scout? I have scouting turned on. At the end of the season I lost my scout and it took me until January to hire a new scout. It is now Spring Training and my scout has still not scouted anyone to update the star ratings. All players are at 1 star. I understand that the star rating is not the best to go on but OSA doesn't seem to be as good as the scouts you can hire. Well when does scouting begin? It is making trading and promotions and so forth difficult since my scout won't scout.

07-19-2008, 05:41 PM	#5
Pdubya64 Major Leagues Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Staunton, VA Posts: 496	Uncovered what is happening I did some more testing with the same team and settings. The bug is minor but can be confusing for new guys like me IMO. My Nats game starts with Jose Lopez as Head Scout and it gives you a scouting report from him dated 3-24-08, along with the OSA report. I fire poor Jose on 3-25-08 (opening day) and hire head scout Jorge Barrias with ratings of 97/101/101/101. As of 3-26-08, the game is now displaying the new SD's name (Jorge Barrias) with the previous HS's 3-24-08 report- even though he wasn't hired yet. The report belongs to Jose Lopez, and due to his ineptitude, leaves much to be desired. When 4-1-08 rolls around, Jorge Barrias issues his latest and greatest overall scouting report and of course there are numerous changes that occur in players ratings and potential. Now granted, if you are paying close enough attention to the dates, it should occur to you that Jorge Barrias couldn't possibly have written the 3-24-08 report, but since there is so much going on with OOTP9, it makes it very easy to miss this fact. What you end up with is what I described in my post above... you think your spiffy new scout is hard at work separating the wheat from the chaff, and you blindly start trading, hitting the waiver wire, etc. until 4-1-08 rolls around and you start crying because you have to start ALL over again. Last edited by Pdubya64; 07-19-2008 at 05:43 PM.

07-10-2008, 11:36 PM	#2
1998 Yankees Hall Of Famer Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Yankee Stadium, back in 1998. Posts: 8,645	Did you advance at least one day into Spring Training? Because, according to the manual, "typically players are scouted on the first day of Spring Training, on Opening Day, the first day of the Offseason, and every few months in between." Besides that and two stupid suggestions (you did actually hire the guy, and you did allocate money to major and minor league scouting, right?) the only other thing I can think of is hiring your scout only recently is temporarily delaying his initial reporting. Recall that in last year's version, scouting an organization took some time, let alone a league. That may still be the case behind the scenes in this year's version.

07-11-2008, 06:37 AM	#3
kingpin1976 Major Leagues Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 402	One thing I've found and dont know if its a bug or what but different leagues have their new ratings scouted at different points of the season and I've had guys come up to the bigs from AA or AAA when that league is having it's scouting report published then that player gets sent back down and the player will not get an updated scouting report if he is not in the current league that's being published or in my example not updates at all when moved back and forth.

07-19-2008, 04:07 PM	#4
Pdubya64 Major Leagues Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Staunton, VA Posts: 496	I am running into similar issues. I started a 08 Nationals GM game and the first move I make is deep-sixing the head scout for his poor performance. I hired the best guy I could afford (97/101/100/101) and he accepts on March 24th. I also up his budget from $2M to $3M. Great! Now I can go to town rebuilding the Nats, right? Wrong. It looks like (having trouble telling) the game waits until April 1st to do a scouting report from the new guy; in the meantime, even though the pulldown scout menu says that the new guy has done the individual player report (vs. the OSA) after a few days, old Jorge later gives me a fresh scouting report and BAM!- all the guys I thought I was getting with good star ratings plummet to league dregs. Doooh! Game over! Is there a way to launch a new ML game with 08 rosters AND start before spring training? Right now I am so new as a GM I squeak every time I turn around, and I feel "rushed" with the game starting on March 23rd. Help! Throw me a bone with any scouting tips on it... WOOF!